Windows 8 includes an automatic maintenance routine designed to run in the background with limited user interaction and minimal impact to performance and energy efficiency. If you want to disable the automatic maintenance (for example if you are running Windows 8 in a virtual environment) you'll have to change some file permissions to be able to do so successfully.

Like Windows 7, Windows 8 includes a command that let you view details on your computers power usage including details on your computer's battery. The Windows 8 command will show you even more details if you are running on newer hardware.

Today at the JP Morgan Technology, Media & Telecom Conference in Boston, Windows division CFO Tami Reller shared with the audience that the update previously referred to as 'Windows Blue' will be called Windows 8.1 and will be a free update to Windows 8 for consumers through the Windows Store.

Microsoft got most things right with Windows 8 and Solid State Drive's (SSD drives have been around for a few years now). So while you don't have to employ all kinds of 'tricks' to get the most out of your SSD drive, you may still benefit from some tips, especially when it comes to saving some disk space (which can come in handy on smaller size SSD drives).

In the Windows 8 Developer Preview, Microsoft had a registry setting that allowed you to switch off Windows 8 'Metro' Start screen. This would also enable the 'classic' Windows 7 Start menu. Microsoft took this option away in the Consumer Preview and has not added that simple trick back to the release version of Windows 8, so what do we do now?

Several popular webmail providers are investigating a report that millions of their users' login details are being shared online by a hacker.
Google Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Microsoft Hotmail and Mail.ru are among the services said to have been affected.
The security firm that flagged the issue said that it believed many of the usernames and passwords ..

Cloud computing - storing data and applications remotely rather than on your own premises - can cut IT costs dramatically and speed up your operations.
But is it safe?
Despite the rise of public cloud platforms offered by the likes of Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud, less than 10% of the world's data is currently stored in t..

Vincent Lai was working at a recycling facility in New York and sorting through a bin of used cellphones a few years ago when he dug up a Palm Treo, a smartphone that was discontinued last decade.
Mr. Lai, 49, tested the Treo and found it still worked. So he took the device home and made it his everyday mobile companion, much as one would adopt an..